Kenai Fjords

This is a continuation of a previous article on Kenai Fjords National Park, so if you want to learn more, please refer to that article.

Kayaking is a great way to enjoy the many sights that Kenai Fjords National Park has to offer, which include icebergs, birds, marine animals, and Bear Glacier Lagoon, but do be careful around icebergs. Other than that, it’s also good if you’re careful of the waters, as kayaking in the park is not for beginners, and it is suggested to do so with a guide. But how do you get there in the first place? You can access the park by kayak through water taxi and boat, and there are also boat tours at the park. Continuing on, the beautiful sites you can see at the park as you kayak are Caines Head, Thumb Cove, and Bear Glacier lagoon, where you can spot glaciers, birds, marine animals, and cliffs if you’re going along the coast.

Around the park, you can access various fresh and saltwater spots to fish within the fjords, Resurrection Bay, and the nearby Chugach National Forest, and the fish that you might catch there include salmon, halibut, rockfish, and lingcod. If any of the locations here don’t interest you, other anglers have been spotted fishing along the shore in Seward, but to fish in the first place you need to obey the regulations and have a license with you; more information is on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website.

If you want to enjoy a more casual trip around the park and still learn but not join any of the ranger tours, various companies offer boat tours around the fjords, and tidewater glaciers, and provide great views of marine life. Water taxis and air taxis can bring you to different places around the park inaccessible by car and are probably the best way to get to anywhere in the park as over half of the park is covered in ice. There are also sled dog tours that are authorized by the park.

As mentioned before, the winter allows many other opportunities to enjoy the park: snowmobile, snowshoe, ski, dogsled, and others, but things that specifically run only during the winter months are specialized winter shuttle, boat, and dogsled tours. Ice climbing is also permitted, but is limited due to dicey ice conditions normally, yet if you decide to try climbing anyways, then booking a trip with a mountaineering guide company is the best way to go. On the topic of snowmobiles, however, they are allowed only in specific parts of the park, and it’s suggested you check the conditions of the park, along with the laws you have to follow with snowmobiling.

You can get to Kenai Fjords National Park through many different ways since it’s near Seward and only 126 miles south of Anchorage; car, bus, train (only during the summer months), plane, and even cruise ships as many begin or end in Seward. If you’re in Seward and don’t want to take a car, there are shuttle buses and taxi services provided to you, if you have the money.

I should’ve mentioned this in my previous issue, but there are no entrance nor camping fees at the park, although camping is first-come first-serve and is only a 12-site tent-only campground. Overnight parking is not permitted, although backcountry camping is allowed. When camping or doing any outdoor activities, food storage is mandated, so make sure you have the proper container that’ll keep odors in and bears out. Although it’s fine if you have a service animal that isn’t a therapy animal, pets are not allowed anywhere at the park besides the road to Exit Glacier and the Exit Glacier Nature Center. Continuing on, if you’re wishing to host special events like weddings, along with doing research and photography for commercial use then it’s required that you bring a permit. However, if you wish to scatter ashes, that’s fine. Things that you can do at the park that have certain laws and regulations around them are fishing, and hunting, commercial harvesting, and subsistence hunting aren’t allowed.

This is all that you should know about Kenai Fjords National Park, so I hope you enjoyed it.